This year Winter Jasmine is a showstopper. I don’t think I have ever seen them more colorful. Often mistakenly called yellow bell or forsythia, these bloom earlier than forsythia and have green stems instead of brown. I have a planting at my entry that is about 20 years old and…

A few days of sunny weather makes me get out and start getting my garden ready for spring. Today, I took a soil test of my vegetable garden, as I have not done so in several years. I felt my production of vegetables seemed less last summer. The little soil…

Pruning can be beautiful or a disaster. The two hollies above were a somewhat matched pair. The unpruned holly has a lot of style and character. The pruned holly on the other hand, looks like a typical pruned box and is ugly for this space. Looking at the unpruned holly,…

Winter is officially here, with weather forecast encouraging us to take “Old Man” seriously. And won’t hot soup on the stove and a fire in the fireplace be so good?! Not every living space can accommodate a fireplace though, so for those who don’t have one read on anyway –…

Looking at the temperatures now through December, the empress camellia in our yard will again grace our Christmas table with blooms. It is a delight to go out on Christmas morning and fill a trug with cut blooms. This has become an annual tradition at our house, and unless we…

What does ‘acid stomach’ have to do with growing azaleas? Both the human stomach and soil rely on a small but critical number somewhere in the range of zero to fourteen! This number is recognized as the pH of a material, or its hydrogen ion concentration. The human stomach acid…

I always plant my spring bulbs in late December or the first week in January. So the fact that many stores and my favorite mail order source, Brent and Becky’s bulbs, have their remaining supply of bulbs on sales now is perfect. This weekend I bought 50 large size daffodils…

Japanese maples are showing off all over our area now. The fall color on these maples is simply stunning, and they are now at their peak. It is also, in my opinion, the best time to purchase them and plant them, as you can see their fall color and their…

My turf looks like a forest floor it is so covered with leaves. And yes, they need to be removed. For many of you it is endless hours of raking which granted it is good exercise, but frankly I hate to rake leaves. My solution is to cut them up…

Even after the cold weather this week my Sparkling Burgundy sasanquas look fine. That is why I think sasanqua camellias are the A-plus blooming shrubs of fall. They like high filtered shade for best blooming but can take shade and some sun most of the day. There are several things…